Overlooked Alam creates history in first-class cricket

By ARY Sports
November 14, 2016 19:44

Pakistan’s left-handed middle order batsman, Fawad Alam created history on Sunday when he reached 10,000 first-class runs in his 211th inning. He is just second fastest to get there after the legendary Hanif Mohammad, who achieved this feat in his 189th inning.

The batsman with an unorthodox batting stance reached the milestone during a Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match, where he was playing for SSGC against UBL in Sialkot. It was his 108th run of the inning when he scored his first-class career’s 10,000th run.

He surpassed records of the iconic Pakistani batters, Mohammad Yousuf and Misbah Ul Haq, who reached there in 219th and 221st inning respectively.

Alam has a batting average of 57.25 in first-class cricket and an average of 41.66 in the three tests he has played for Pakistan, despite of his wonderful numbers, he is often ignored by selectors and is one of the most under-rated players of the world.

The 31-year old had a mesmerizing debut test in July, 2009 where he struck 168 runs as an opener in the second inning of the game against Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, he was dropped in only his third test in the month of November of the same year and he has not featured Pakistan in Whites since then.

Recently, Alam was not given a central contract on which the PCB Chairman, Shahryar Khan told Daily Express, “If it was up to me, Fawad [Alam] would still be among our centrally contracted players.

I think it was unfair to exclude him. And now, with him getting older, it would be tougher for him to make a comeback to the national side.”

He further told the reason of his exclusion from the team, “Even though a player of his calibre is more suitable in Tests instead of ODIs and T20Is, but, fortunately for us, there are many good players available in the format.”

Fawad Alam is often a topic of discussion for Pakistani cricket fans as they want him to be in the Pakistani ranks for his consistent run in domestic as well as his record in international cricket.